世界名家經典詩歌精選:The Shadow on the Stone
The Shadow on the Stone
by Thomas Hardy
I went by the Druid stone
That broods in the garden white and lone,
And I stopped and looked at the shifting shadows
That at some moments fall thereon
From the tree hard by with a rhythmic swing,
And they shaped in my imagining
To the shade that a well-known head and shoulders
Threw there when she was gardening.
I thought her behind my back,
Yea, her I long had learned to lack,
And I said: "I am sure you are standing behind me,
Though how do you get into this old track?"
And there was no sound but the fall of a leaf
As a sad response; and to keep down my grief
I would not turn my head to discover
That there was nothing in my belief.
Yet I wanted to look and see
That nobody stood at the back of me;
But I thought once more: "Nay, I'll not unvision
A shape which, somehow, there may be."
So I went on softly from the glade,
And left her behind me throwing her shade,
As she were indeed an apparition-
My head unturned lest my dream should fade.
蹤影
--托馬斯·哈代
我漫步經過一塊石碑
它晶瑩而又孤零零立在花園中，
我停步注視着
碑上移動的樹影，
樹枝在有節奏的擺動。
在我的想象裏，
影子化作我熟悉的頭和雙肩，
是她在園中操作的身影。
我想準是她站在我的背後，
我久已失去她的音容。
我說：“我知道你在我背後，
可你怎麼到這常來的舊徑？”
寂然無語，只有淒涼的落葉聲。
我抑制住我的悲哀，
我不願回過頭去，
怕看不到一個人影。
可是我又想看個分明，
看背後有否人蹤。
但我又想：“可不能使這一形象消失，
她就在我身後也很可能。”
我悄悄離開花園，
留下她的身影在我背後，
她好象真是一個幻影，
我頭也不回，怕我的夢消失無蹤。
